Series
based football is what succeeds in youth football, not the 20 favorite
football plays the coach has acquired from coaching or watching TV.
If forced to coach something other than the Single Wing, I would use
a series based offense that spawned from the Single Wing, which are
the Dead T, Markham Double Wing and the Wing T. All are good series
based offenses in their own right, but for youth football, the Single
Wing has many advantages on each.

Consisting
of a nose guard and two down linemen, the coach has the task of deciding
who the outside two linemen are - Defensive Ends (DEs) or Densive
Tackles (DTs). Often one of the Linebackers (LBs) has zone pass coverage
responsibilities in effect employing 5 Defensive Backs (DBs). This
is why the 3-4 is often referred to as the "nickel" defense.
Having 5 DBs allows for random blitzing by one or more of these backs
in order to maintain a sufficient pass rush. The 3-4 is susceptible
to the inside run and is used primarily in situations where an interior
run is not expected.

Why
use the single wing offense?
Before moving to any system one has to ask, what is it going to do
for me? Too many youth football coaches either stick with something
because itís all they know or they switch to something that is popular
in their league. Donít be a lemming, do some research.

The Single
Wing has had unparalleled success across the country from Alaska to
Florida. There is a small but growing group of very successful High
School coaches running the Single Wing from Florida to California
( USA Today Top 20 Colton High). In 2007 alone, three Single Wing
teams played in the Virginia High School State Finals. Menominee Michigan
just finished up itís 3rd State Title in the last 9 seasons. Just
because not many teams in your area are running it, doesnít mean it
isnít popular elsewhere. Even a number of college teams today run
Single Wing plays and formations, like Florida, West Virginia, Utah,
Nevada and Arkansas to name a just few. In todays lingo many call
it a multiple shotgun offense, but itís still the Single Wing.

We
think the Single Wing Offense makes sense for a variety of reasons:

Many
youth teams never adjust to the unbalanced formation.

Most
teams give us numbers advantages before the play even starts.

Series
based football at itís finest, each play looks like one in the series.
no ďone trick poniesĒ.

Puts
defenses in conflict, they have to pick their poison.

You
have a simple answer for what defenses are trying to take away within
each play series.

The
snap is much safer, if we fumble the snap we have more room to recover.

The
ability to snap to 3 different backs is incredibly deceptive.

The
spin series is the most deceptive and least seen series in football.

The
defenses are not used to seeing this offense.

Scout
teams have a hard time emulating this offense.

Itís
easy to pass out of with the offset fullback and tailback.

Fewer
handoffs that often cause fumbles, fewer turnovers.

No
pitch sweeps required to get outside, hence no pitches on the ground,
fewer turnovers.

Ball
control means less time for your defense on the field.

Excellent
ďCultĒ support system.

Overwhelm
your opponent at the point of attack.

No
requirement to have a stud quarterback or big feature back.

All
the kids get involved in the offense, itís team football at its
finest.

Itís
fun for the kids and the coaches.

It
doesnít require lots of big or athletic linemen.

Great
Blocking Angle System.

Itís
flexible.

It
maximizes the talent you do have.

It
has unmatched power. ĖNo quarterback under the center for our pulling
linemen to run into.

Easy
to put anyone in to carry the ball during blowouts.

Selling
the Single Wing
For the uninformed, there may be a bit of a selling job required to
buy into the Single Wing concept. We were sold on it by viewing film
of several very average skilled and sized teams just crush every opponent
they faced. Watching Eric Strutz and his State Line Comets or a Todd
Bross team score on every possession with average kids sold us on
the offense. There is plenty of this type of film available through
us. The records of the youth and High School teams that run Single
Wing speak for themselves, itís not just my teams that are dong well
with this system. Nearly every youth team we know of that is using
this offense has done very well with it. The teams that have combined
this great offense with a sound practice methodology and a solid defense,
have done great.

To get
your coaches to buy in, give them DVDs and videos of great youth Single
wing teams in action. Ask them to form their own decision for themselves,
as they say pictures are worth a thousand words.

My only
regret is that we did not do this from the start, I am 100% confident
those 4-6 and 2-8 teams I had back in the 90s could have been championship
teams or at least 8-2, or 9-1 teams.

Clinics
You may want to consider putting together a coaches clinic of your
own and rep the plays and drills with your coaches. Share your enthusiasm
and confidence in this system, itís contagious. Our first year running
this system went much easier than we anticipated. We have no restrictions
on practice time in our city league so I took a small group of six
returning players and experimented with the base football plays one
month before practice started. We met one day per week for four weeks,
which really helped to prepare me for the first day of football practice.
We had most of the glitches worked out and now we had a group of kids
trained so our other kids would have someone they could copy when
they were learning the football plays.

I wish
I would have had a DVD or clinic video, as we just had four pages
of scribbled notes and a season of game film to work from. Prior to
the season starting, we had a two-hour whiteboard clinic for the coaches
and we watched some tape of Eric Strutzís State Line Comets youth
team. On defense, we had a complete package that consisted of 4 pages
of notes and our special teams were just one page. You guys have it
all, the benefit of the combined experience of my aggregated 72 teams
playing over the last six years (over 820 games) and the leveraged
knowledge of over 100 of my coaches. You also get the leveraged knowledge
of the fine group of very successful coaches from all over the country
that have helped me with the material.

For 200
free youth football coaching tips or to sign up for Daveís free Youth
Football Tips newsletter please go to: Single
Wing Football